Stakeholder, Owner, Client…how about a human?
“Revenue”, to any other human this word would just mean something as simple as money, fuel, or a tool to exist, but to a Revenue Manager, it means more. Working with one of the world’s largest hospitality franchisors for the past 7 months has made “Revenue” more than just a word for me. It has, in countless ways, become my constant companion, the thing I chase on a daily basis, my constant answer to the age old, feared question, “What do you do for a living?”.
I am willing to bet my entire portfolio’s annual profit that the phrase “I manage my client’s revenue!” will definitely instill pride in every Revenue Manager out there, no matter how small, no matter how big. Seeing the net revenue growth figures for a property is equivalent to witnessing one of your balcony plants grow, proudly taking comfort in the fact that all your consistent efforts are bearing fruit.
After getting a whiff, followed by a taste and then finally a bite of the might of managing an entire portfolio of 30+ properties spread across the US, I came to realize how very simple, yet how CRUCIAL it is to build a rapport with the property stakeholders. Be it the cozy city of Blackshear or New York, the ‘City that never sleeps”, be it an inventory size of 50 or a massive 100+ room property on our hands, be it an ancient property with a loyal customer base or a newly renovated property about to take the market with storm, the list goes on and on.
In our capacity as Revenue Managers, we try our best to pull any and every lever at our disposal to grow the client’s revenue, the sigh of satisfaction after seeing that one excel cell with the YoY revenue highlighted in green is the best feeling of the day. It’s important to know that there is more to Revenue Management than just numbers, the route to that growth takes a lot detours and essential pit stops in our relationship with the clients, impacting the numbers and growing the revenue isn’t something the Revenue Managers can magically achieve on their own, it’s a beautiful two-way street.
The entire spectrum of properties and the never-ending list of factors that we study and analyze on a daily basis can easily be daunting at times, especially to Revenue Managers who have just entered this fascinating world. There will be instances when you won’t see a strategy on the first glance, there will be instances when you will think of a solution in your sleep, there will be instances where you will have to deal with persistent, even cranky clients, which may make you slam your laptop shut in a fit of rage, or instances where a strategy call will be the best 60 minutes of your day.
In the consulting world and by extension, in the domain of Revenue Management, influencing stakeholders is the ultimate aim, because that will inevitably result in the implementation of your recommendations, your ideas, your brainchild, which is the constant goal we Revenue Managers chase. Now, we have an idea, how do we test its validity? Personally, I believe real life stories are the perfect medium to support any idea or theory, so join me as I lighten the mood of this article and take you through a very brief snippet of one of my strategy calls:
Premise: A revenue manager interacting with property owner in a strategy call due to the unavailability of the General manager. The topic of discussion is a newly added functionality to an existing Revenue Management system.
(Now property owners can be tricky to deal with, they connect with the property and hence, with the revenue generated on a more emotional level compared to the cluster team. It means a great deal to them; they don’t shy away from speaking their mind and they ALWAYS talk about the property with a hint of parental protection.)
Me: “So yeah, as per the last intimidation, this is the recent update to the system where we now have these added functionalities”
*details are not relevant as we are focusing on the raw essence of the conversation*
Owner: “Wait what?” *starts to chuckle*
Me (surprised to see a major property stakeholder getting casual with a Revenue Manager he has never talked to before): “Well, yes sir, it is what it is!”
Owner: “That seems like a total pain in the ass!” *bursts into laughter*
Me (forgetting that I am a Revenue Manager talking to the owner of a property): “Well, YEAH! Exactly my thoughts!” *joins him in laughter*
Now, why I have decided to recreate this snippet from my strategy call is because of two sweet reasons. Firstly, the aforementioned owner is usually not very receptive of new ideas and recommendations, and secondly, after laughing with me like a total maniac for almost a minute, he was on board with all of my major strategic recommendations for that particular call. The picture of both us laughing is now as you can guess, engraved in my brain like a core memory, and it still makes me chuckle randomly on a blue Monday.
Ever since I started interacting with stakeholders, I have realized that there is a very fine line where they feel heard, and we manage to strike that perfect influencing chord to make them hear us as well. And I believe, very strongly indeed, that the shortcut to that area goes through the human connection.
So, the next time, try thinking of your property stakeholder as a parent, leaving their child in your care, try to think of a strategy call as a comfortable conversation, try to think of the client at the other end of the call as a human, and I guarantee you, you will see the magic for yourselves.
I hope this little snippet made you think of a candid moment with any of your stakeholders which brought a smile to your face at the very least. If yes, congratulations, you have successfully managed to tap into the beautiful and severely underrated domain of the human connection and have used it to assert influence in the decision-making processes. If not, congratulations again, you now have a totally new theory, correction, a totally “TRIED AND TESTED” theory which will definitely work wonders. And even if it doesn’t, you will still have a cool story on your hands which can make you smile on a blue Monday or garner cheers from your buddies on weekend catch-up sessions. I would say that’s a win-win situation, how about you?
